Microsoft Labs Online

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Microsoft Labs Online

Self-Service Student Guide

Welcome to Microsoft Labs Online powered by Xtreme Velocity. This document provides step-by-step instructions on how to:

 Create an account.

 Use your virtual labs through the self-service portal.

If you are using virtual labs during class hours, follow the steps for creating an account and accessing your labs in the In the Classroom section of this document.

If you are using virtual labs outside of class hours, use the At Home section to configure your home computer for access to your labs.

System Requirements

To access the lab hosting system, your client system must meet the following requirements:  Windows XP SP3 or above (Windows RT is not supported)

 .NET Framework 3.5 or above

 32-bit Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher  15 kbps per user network bandwidth

 Ideal screen resolutions are above 1280 x 1024

 ActiveX control must be installed (requires elevated, “local administrator”, permissions)  TCP Port 80 and 443 open with inbound/outbound access to the Internet

 For some corporate firewalls, a proxy client (such as TMG Client) may be required

In the Classroom

Perform the following steps to create an account and access your virtual labs.

Create a Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) Labs Online Account

The first step to accessing your virtual labs will be to create an account. 1. In Internet Explorer, navigate to http://moc.microsoftlabsonline.com.

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3 3. To create your account, fill in the fields on the Create an account page.

NOTE: The email address used to create your account is also used for password reminders. It is

important to use a valid email address. 4. Click Register.

5. You will be redirected to the My labs page.

Add a Course Code

1. Click the My account tab. You will be redirected to the My codes page.

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4 3. Click Add code. Your course will be added to the My codes page.

4. Click the My labs tab. Your course labs will now be available.

Note: If you do not see the labs associated with your particular course on your course home

page, please inform your instructor.

Take a Lab

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5 2. While your lab loads, you will see a spinner with tips and tricks for the lab hosting system.

Note: It typically takes between 30 and 90 seconds for a lab to load. If your lab takes longer

than five minutes to load, please refresh your browser page by pressing the F5 key. If you still cannot access your lab, please alert your instructor.

Note: Some labs have been modified to operate correctly in an online environment. If a lab has

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6 3. Once the lab loads, the lab virtual machine names will be in a tiled display at the right of the

virtual machine connection window. Each virtual machine is accessible by clicking that machine’s tile.

Navigating the Lab User Interface

 Switching Virtual Machines: You can switch between virtual machines by clicking the

named machine’s tile.

 Ctrl+Alt+Delete: This button will send the Ctrl+Alt+Delete command to the virtual machine

currently selected.

 Type clipboard: This button will type the current text saved to the client machine clipboard

into the active virtual machine session.

 Contact us: This button will open a form to send a system email to the Xtreme Velocity lab

hosting team.

 End Lab: This button will end the current lab and redirect you to your course home page. All

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At Home

The In the Classroom section of this document provides instructions for creating an account and accessing your labs in the classroom.

If you also plan on using virtual labs outside of class hours, the At Home section will help you configure your home computer to access to your labs.

Configuring Your Home Computer

1. In Internet Explorer, navigate to http://moc.microsoftlabsonline.com.

2. Sign in using the email address you specified when creating your account. You will be re-directed to your course home page.

NOTE: If you have not created a user account, follow the steps in the In the Classroom section of this document.

3. To take a lab, click Take Lab.

4. After your lab loads, you will be asked to install an ActiveX control.

5. Click Install.

NOTE: Installation of this control requires Administrative access.

6. Once installation is complete, the virtual machines connection windows will refresh and you will have access to your virtual lab environment.

Troubleshooting

If you have any issues connecting to the lab images once they have launched, the following may help identify the issue.

Advanced Firewall Configuration

The lab hosting system offers connections to Lab Virtual Machine (VM) console sessions from an end user’s web browser via an ActiveX control embedded in the web page. That ActiveX control makes one or more connections to a Hyper-V server in order to display the VM console

windows within the browser window.

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8 The network traffic between the ActiveX control and the lab portal is running over TCP port 443. That port is typically used to transfer https traffic. However, in this case, the network protocol being transferred over port 443 is RDP (the Remote Desktop Protocol). In most cases,

proxy/firewall configurations are not sensitive to the protocol being transmitted over the port and this traffic flows without a problem. However, in more secure environments (and this may include your network boundary), packet inspection of traffic over port 443 may block the RDP traffic since it does not conform to the https protocol.

To enable the lab session traffic from the ActiveX control to reach the internet via a proxy server (such as Microsoft’s Forefront TMG for example), two configuration steps may be necessary:

Internet Proxy/Firewall Client

First, it is necessary to install a client proxy agent on the end user’s machine and then configure that client to connect to the Internet via the proxy/firewall server. If your network is protected by TMG for example, you will need to install the Forefront TMG client on your machine and configure it to connect to the internet via the gateway. The TMG client can be downloaded >>here<<. Other firewall/proxy products typically have an equivalent client agent.

Firewall Configuration

If the firewall has been configured for packet inspection (i.e. the rules are sensitive to the protocols running over certain ports), then the outbound rules on the firewall need to be altered to allow the RDP protocol to run over port 443 to the specific addresses used by the lab portal. Namely:

Destination IP address ranges:

67.21.174.1 through 67.21.174.25 67.21.175.69 through 67.21.175.88 67.21.173.141 through 67.21.173.150 Destination port: TCP 443 Protocol: RDP

NOTE: Configuration of access to port 443 for RDP traffic is beyond the scope of Internet

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